Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Doin' It Right

I spend a lot of time here complaining about delayed Kickstarters and backers whose projects are delayed. Or which don't live up to their expectations. What I don't do - and should do more often - is write about projects and creators whose projects aren't constantly delayed - or which are only slightly delayed but awesome.

The very first project I backed on Kickstarter was Hellas: Princes of the Universe by Jerry Grayson. I have since backed four or five of his projects - all of them have been filled in a relatively short amount of time. I won't say he's not late on his projects - he is - but he doesn't run very late and his project quality is regularly good.

Daniel Solis' project Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple was the first project I had arrive ahead of schedule. And it was (and continues to be) good. He's been involved with other projects, generally doing layout, and his presence seems to get them out the door in a not-horribly-delayed fashion.

Sage Kobold Productions' Dungeon World is awesome. And, while it was late, it wasn't that late - and they did a good job of communicating with us. Seriously: If you see this game on the shelf, buy it.

Andy Kitkowski's Tenra Bansho Zero was a hair late, but it had a ton of stretch-goal-based add-ons. And all of them have been filled (with the exception of a few PDF-based stretches). The game itself is ... fascinating. It's a translation of a Japanese RPG, and it appears as though games in Japan traveled a different path than games here in the US did. Andy has a project currently up - Ryuutama - another translation. And I backed it with no hesitation.

Joseph Bloch has Kickstarted two projects so far, both for Adventures Dark & Deep - and both arrived ahead of schedule. Both are also very well-done. The game is a retroclone - and he managed to capture the feel of classic AD&D both with his layout and the art style.

Ron Edwards' Sorcerer is the game that kicked off the Indie Revolution in gaming. His project was originally for PDFs, but it grew to the point where he was able to offer print copies of his books as well - for the same price. It delayed the project by six months, but we had the PDF files about on time.

Torchbearer by Luke Crane and the Burning Wheel HQ team arrived slightly ahead of schedule, but it's ... it's as unique as Burning Wheel was at the time it launched. And I really like it. Even the paper they used feels like an old-school D&D book. Only it's nothing like it mechnically.

Ryan Laukat's City of Iron is actually the second project of his I've backed. I have enjoyed both it and Empires of the Void a great deal - and neither one was hugely delayed.

The Shadows of Esteren line of games is one that Steph and I have been backing as they launch. We've been very impressed with the books so far. It's another translation - this time, translated from the French - and it's been more-or-less on-time with its project releases.

Caias Ward's Trigger Happy: Roleplaying In A World That Hates You came in almost exactly on schedule - and that's even accounting for stretch goals and the like. It looks to be a ton of fun - and I'm enjoying the concepts on the chapters I've read so far. I really need more time to read. More hours in a day, perhaps, or no day job. Or something.

While it's not complete, yet, Jesse Butler's Short Order Heroes got its basic set out on time - we're only waiting on stretch goals at this point.

And, of course, FATE Core. Yes, it's later than it was going to be. It's also six books. Or seven. I lose count. I could have paid more for shipping to have things as they released - but I'm willing to wait. And I have tracking for my shipment which says it's due to be delivered the day before you will read this. Still ahead of schedule, by the way.

These aren't all of the good projects and creators I've backed - they're not even all of the creators I'd choose to back again. But these are the ones who have been close to on-time (or have communicated effectively when they were late). These are the ones whose products I have enjoyed reading, and whose next project is one I'm likely to back again.

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